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Full disclosure: This product was sent to us for an honest and objective review. No promises were made of financial remuneration, free gifts or holidays in the sunny Bahamas in exchange for our review…….sadly
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When the good people at Free League Publishing agreed to send me the latest expansion books for their excellent The One Ring & The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying 5e in return for an honest & objective review, I was delighted to do so. I was doubly delighted (that’s very, very delighted) to see that an extra copy of the The One Ring: Tales from the Lone Lands had also been sent for the purpose of including as a competition prize – but more of that later.
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For those not in the know, Free League Publishing was founded in 2011 by Tomas Härenstam, Nils Karlén, and Mattias Johnsson Haake. The company started with a focus on creating tabletop RPGs that immediately stood out in terms of both content and production values. This commitment to high production values often means collaboration with talented artists to create visually stunning books with detailed illustrations and immersive layouts. The combination of compelling narratives and first-class production has contributed to the success of their games amongst the TTRPG community.
I was intrigued to see whether the quality of production had been maintained in these latest releases…….. well, we shall soon see…….
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🏹 The One Ring RPG: Tales From the Lone-Lands – Released on November 14
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Now they had gone on far into the Lone-lands, where there were no people left, no inns, and the roads grew steadily worse. Not far ahead were dreary hills, rising higher and higher, dark with trees. On some of them were old castles with an evil look, as if they had been built by wicked people.
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Tales from the Lone-lands contains six adventures for The One Ring™, the official tabletop roleplaying game based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
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Ancient evils wake as the Dark Lord stretches forth his hand. Over the course of these adventures, the heroes may thwart the spies and stratagems of the Enemy, explore long-lost wonders of the north, and travel far from hearth and home. Preserve the spark of hope, and one day these empty, wounded lands shall be healed! Fail, and all will be destroyed…
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All set in the lone-lands of north-western Middle-earth, the adventures can be played individually, or as part of a larger tale.
A Troll-Hole, If Ever There Was One and Kings of Little Kingdoms are both relatively self-contained adventures, but still hint at a growing danger.
Messing About In Boats involves directly one member of the Company, in an unexpected way!
Not To Strike Without Need and Wonder of the Northern World follow the slow infiltration of spies of the Enemy.
Finally, The Quest of Amon Guruthos challenges the heroes to battle an ancient evil.
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Having sat earlier this week and gorged the contents of the book in one sitting the narrative quality of each adventure seems consistently strong – with only perhaps the 3rd one, Kings of Little Kingdoms feeling a little too light in tone compared with the the others. However, having thought about the options that the story affords, I’m confident that this here Loremaster can add a dash more ‘heaviness’ here and there.
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I myself have actually started prepping the 1st adventure for my own group and fully intend to take advantage of the opportunities to run the stories on a larger epic scale – they seem to fit together beautifully in my opinion – especially as the book handily includes a number of alternate starting scenarios for some of the adventures. This means that the power is with the Loremaster to make the stories connect together as fluidly as needed for playing.
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The production quality, art work and overall layout of the book (in fact in all three products
that are named in this piece) retains the remarkable high quality that we have become accustomed to from Free League. Did someone say ‘sumptuous’?…….. I think I did.
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🗺 The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying: Tales from Eriador – Released on November 14
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Tales From Eriador is a beautifully illustrated hardback compendium containing the same six adventures found in the previous the The One Ring™ tabletop roleplaying book, but this time for The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying, the 5E adaptation.
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🗡The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying: Ruins of Eriador – Released on November 14
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In the westlands of Eriador, between the Misty Mountains and the Mountains of Lune, the Hobbits found both Men and Elves. Indeed, a remnant still dwelt there of the Dúnedain, the kings of Men that came over the Sea out of Westernesse; but they were dwindling fast and the lands of their North Kingdom were falling far and wide into waste.
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Eriador, the lone-lands described in The Lord of the Rings™, comes alive as never before in this supplement for The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying, the 5E adaptation of the The One Ring™ tabletop roleplaying game based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. A region often described as deserted becomes a crucible for adventure, offering many hours of gameplay.
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Chapter 1: Fog Over Eriador offers a description of the regions that once were part of the kingdom of Arnor, with a focus on the city of Tharbad.
Chapter 2: A Gathering Storm provides the Loremaster with a set of narrative elements aimed at building a possible future for the land of Eriador as a whole, including the description of many looming threats, Loremaster characters and their agendas.
Chapter 3: Landmarks adds twelve sites of interest in the style of the one presented in the core volume. These locations depict both ‘historical’ sites mentioned in The Lord of the Rings™ or The Hobbit™, and others that have been created specifically for the game.
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The Competition bit…..
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As mentioned earlier – the good people at Free League have offered up a physical copy of The One Ring: Tales from the Lone Lands for a competition prize. But not only that – they have also offered to include free PDF’’s for Tales from the Lone Lands plus Lord of The Rings 5e: Tales of Eriador and Lord of The Rings 5e: Ruins of Eriador!
The PDF’S will be made immediately available for download on DriveThruRPG by Free League upon notification by us of the winner. The physical copy of the The One Ring book will be posted by yours truly.
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To win this fantastic prize just follow these basic instructions;
- Subscribe (for free) to the 5D Pop Culture Website (the link is at the bottom of the main page)
2) Send an email to us at 5DPopCulture@gmail.com stating that you’ve subscribed (or are an existing subscriber) and want to win the prize…………. that’s it!
We will then pick out a winner at random on Friday 1st December – Good luck!
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